The present invention relates to fluid process control and monitoring systems. In particular, the present invention relates to diagnostics for such systems.
Fluid flow meters are used in industrial process control and monitoring environments to measure fluid flow and provide flow signals for flow indicators and controllers. Inferential flow meters measure fluid flow in a pipe by measuring a pressure drop near a discontinuity within the pipe. The discontinuity (primary element) can be an orifice, a nozzle, a venturi, a pitot tube, a vortex shedding bar, a target or even a simple bend in the pipe. Flow around the discontinuity causes both a pressure drop and increased turbulence. The pressure drop is sensed by a pressure transmitter (secondary element) placed outside the pipe and connected by impulse lines or impulse passageways to the fluid in the pipe. Reliability depends on maintaining a correct calibration. Erosion or buildup of solids on the primary element can change the calibration. Impulse lines can become plugged over time which isolates the pressure transmitter from the process such that the transmitter is no longer able to track the pressure and adversely affects the operation of the transmitter.
Disassembly and inspection of the impulse lines is one method used to detect and correct plugging of lines. Another known method for detecting plugging is to periodically add a “check pulse” to the measurement signal from a pressure transmitter. This check pulse causes a control system connected to the transmitter to disturb the flow. If the pressure transmitter fails to accurately sense the flow disturbance, an alarm signal is generated indicating line plugging. Another known method for detecting plugging is sensing of both static and differential pressures. If there is inadequate correlation between oscillations in the static and differential pressures, then an alarm signal is generated indicating line plugging. Still another known method for detecting line plugging is to sense static pressures and pass them through high pass and low pass filters. Noise signals obtained from the filters are compared to a threshold, and if variance in the noise is less than the threshold, then an alarm signal indicates that the line is blocked.